By Matty Baiungo for Steve Merril Sports

Boston and Tampa Bay played a home and away series over this past week, and the home team dominated going a perfect 6-0. The Devil Rays won the three games at Tropicana Field by a combined score of 10-5 with every game going Under the total. The Red Sox won the three games at Fenway Park by a combined score of 26-10 with every game going Over the total. Both Clay Buchholz and Josh Beckett avenged their losses for Boston while Tampa’s Matt Garza also split out, winning at home and losing on the road.

Arizona pitcher Micah Owings is not just a thrower; the kid can swing the bat too. Owings was sent to the plate as a pinch hitter by Diamondbacks’ manager Bob Melvin in a game last Wednesday night against the Astros. Down 7-5 in the sixth inning, Owings hit a game-tying two-run homer for Arizona. Houston was well aware of Owings’ prowess at the plate as the Astros actually brought in a right-handed reliever to face Owings. The move didn’t work, and Owings’ homer raised his average to .429 (9-21) this year. Over the last two years, he’s hitting .358 with 8 doubles, a triple, 5 home runs, and 18 RBI.

Oakland pounded out 20 hits last Thursday in a 15-8 win over the Angels. Of those 20 hits, only 2 went for extra bases. And that is typical Oakland baseball as the A’s lineup is built to play small ball. Because Oakland doesn’t have the big names on their roster, they’ve been consistent money-makers so far this year. The A’s are 19-14 on the year and their backers earned 6.96 units of profit over the first month of the season. Despite what they’ve done already, the A’s will still be undervalued in the betting marketplace going forward so don’t be afraid to back them in the underdog role.

What’s going on in the Bronx? The Yankees offense has been MIA this year, and those betting their games Under the total have cleaned house. Going into last week, New York had played 15 of their 24 games Under the total. And they’ve continued that pattern over their last ten games going Under the total in seven of those games. So, for the year, the Yankees are 22-10-1 to the Under and that trend may not reverse itself soon as two of their bats (Posada and Rodriguez) are on the DL.

It’s not uncommon for former starting pitchers to end up in the bullpen, and for young relievers to vault into the starting rotation. Let’s look at a case of each from this past week. Barry Zito was once considered one of the best pitchers in the game while playing in Oakland, but after breaking the bank with a huge contract from the Giants, Zito has been terrible. This year, batters are hitting .336 against him, and in a move to save his career, San Fran moved Zito to the bullpen. Sad news as Zito was an automatic go-against this season. On the flip side, Arizona’s Max Scherzer made his Major League Debut out of the pen last week. Scherzer faced 13 batters in relief, retiring all 13 in his 4.1 innings of work against the Astros. He’ll get his first start on Monday night against the Phillies.

Matty Baiungo is a full-time sports handicapper, researcher, and author. He is considered one of the top young names in the sports betting industry.
 

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